Stable skyrmions in Co/Ni-based nanopillars with perpendicular magnetization anisotropy

Abstract

Micromagnetic simulations have been conducted to explore the formation rules of stable skyrmions in Co/Ni-based perpendicular magnetization anisotropy (PMA) nanopillars with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI). The results show that an appropriate perpendicular magnetic field can generate a robust Néel-type skyrmion magnetic configuration in the free layer with a 5° tilted easy axis. The creation and stability of skyrmion states also depends on the strength of the DMI and the size of nano-disk. Furthermore, we observed intriguing behavior in the case of the free layer with a perfectly perpendicular easy axis. Skyrmion states appeared in two distinct regions of perpendicular magnetic field when both perpendicular and in-plane magnetic fields were applied. This discontinuity arises from the nucleation of initial Bloch-type skyrmions. These results contribute to comprehending the formation mechanism of stable skyrmions in perpendicular magnetic anisotropy multilayers and may promote the development of skyrmion-based nanodevices.